P&G’s Gillette promises guys no longer need to twist their faces while shaving

After half a decade of research, including tests on thousands of men around the world, Gillette on Tuesday introduced its latest razor that it says no longer requires guys to scrunch, stretch and twist their faces in order to catch missed hairs.

The $11.50 Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall Technology, Gillette’s first major razor launch since the Fusion ProGlide in 2010, promises a razor handle that, for the first time, makes a three dimensional movement to adjust and pivot to allow the blades to ride the facial contours of a man’s face, which Gillette said on average has 25,000 hairs. Gillette, the No. 1 razor maker that represents 9% of consumer product giant Procter & Gamble’s $84 billion in annual sales, said its consumer test showed that men prefer the new device over Fusion ProGlide, currently its top-selling razor, by a two to one ratio. With current market razors offering only two-dimensional movements, its tests found that men could take anywhere from 20 to 750 strokes to shave their face, taking anywhere from two to 25 minutes, said Stew Taub, P&G’s director of R&D on shaving.

“We expect it to be the game changer,” said Sonia Fife, Gillette’s general manager for North America, in an interview, adding that 80% of the 24,000 men it surveyed globally said missed hairs is one of their biggest shaving concerns. “It helps to stimulate the growth of the category.”

The introduction comes at at a time when the U.S. men’s shaving market is expected to see little to no growth after dipping by 0.7% last year to $2.86 billion, Euromonitor data showed. P&G’s
/quotes/zigman/238894/delayed/quotes/nls/pgPG share of this market, led by Gillette, has declined each year to 59.7% last year from a peak of 67.1% in 2006. In comparison, its No. 2 rival Energizer Holdings
/quotes/zigman/257103/delayed/quotes/nls/enrENR, parent of Schick, saw its share jump to 18.1% from 11.9% during the same period.

To be sure, Schick’s market share also declined the past two years. The industry, like many other sectors, also has faced new competition such as upstart Dollar Shave Club, while having a beard has become a fashion statement. Meanwhile, P&G and other consumer-products companies and retailers are trying to spur consumers who’ve cut back on commodity items. P&G and Wal-Mart
/quotes/zigman/245476/delayed/quotes/nls/wmtWMT both rank among the top 10 worst performers in the Dow during the past 12 months.

Gillette’s Fife said while the FlexBall is the highest-priced razor the company has introduced, she said Gillette also has razors at different prices to meet the demands of its 800 million male consumers globally. Consumers can also use the existing ProGlide blades for the new handle with the shaving cost at about $1 a week.

She said the company has also seen an overwhelming response from retailers, who’ve purchased 90,000 product displays and live demo cases before the June 9 nationwide store launch. She said that purchase rate was the highest in at least five years. The live demo, called the “hamster wheel,” also marked Gillette’s first such large-scale demo at a retailer. “It’s a testimony of how much they believe in the product,” she said. The new product “helps to stimulate the growth of the category.” The company also has introduced body-shaving products for men in February to meet growing consumer demands, she said.

Andria Cheng/MarketWatch

Darren LoPrinzi gives the new FlexBall razor a try

Gillette’s FlexBall razor’s new TV commercial will feature regular men, but as part of the campaign, it also will feature its celebrity representatives, including tennis star Roger Federer, Fife told MarketWatch. Gillette said it plans to introduce the new razor globally within the next 18 months. The five-blade Fusion line, first introduced in 2006, has generated more than $1 billion in sales for Gillette every year.

“I love it,” he said. “I usually hate shaving. I have to do it over and over again to make sure I don’t have missed spots. But (with the new razor,) every stroke I did, I didn’t have to redo. This is completely done.”

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